[Ed. I seem to be having problems with the posting/draft system here, apologies for the clunkiness.]
There you have it folks, the end of year 2 in the Timberwolves' rebuilding process. The injuries to Al Jefferson and Corey Brewer may be the biggest memory a few years down the road, or maybe it'll be the fact that the team fell short of Kevin McHale's 20-win improvement goal (short by 18 wins, to be precise). Or maybe people will remember Mike Miller aka the South Dakota Sniper's inability or unwillingness (at this point, I'm not sure it matters) to score at a double-digit average (4.6 points below his career average of 14.5).
But despite the negatives of an inarguably bad season, there were some rays of hope. McHale's finally done in the front office, not in a "thank God that bozo's gone" way, but in a "thank God this team will have new executive leadership" way. Kevin Love led all rookies in PER and double-doubles with no signs of hitting a rookie wall, despite his average conditioning. Moreover, Love's ceiling isn't really visible yet with obvious room for growth in his jumper, passing and conditioning. Although I think it's noteworthy that the team finally jettisoned his heavy personality, I doubt Rashad McCants' departure is a real candidate for memorable trend of the year.
But the 2008-09 season is now the past, and the Blueprint marches on.
When the NBA season turns over to a new year this July 1 the Wolves will already have 11 contracts on the books for next season. Add in the 5 draft picks (3 firsts and 2 seconds) they own and there's not a whole lot of room for player movement without trades.
We'll be talking about what moves the Wolves should be making for the next 3 months, so to inform the conversation as much as possible, I thought surveying the lay of the land would help.
Be sure to check out the draft page and contract page.
Rundowns forthcoming...